Global Cement Newsletter

Issue: GCW382 / 05 December 2018

Headlines


Fascinating information came out of LafargeHolcim last week as part of its Capital Markets Day 2018. The building materials company said it is expecting sales growth to slow in 2019 but earnings to grow. Jan Jenisch, the chief executive officer (CEO), said that the group was ‘aggressively’ moving forward in aggregates and ready-mix concrete. Alongside this, its recent divestment of its Indonesian operations was declared a ‘major’ milestone in focusing its portfolio and cutting down on debt.

Graph 1: LafargeHolcim’s major product lines by sales (%), 2015 – 2017. Source: Company reports. 

Graph 1: LafargeHolcim’s major product lines by sales (%), 2015 – 2017. Source: Company reports.

Graph 1, above, gives a good idea of how LafargeHolcim has been changing its business. Cement sales as a percentage of total sales have been cut to 60% in 2017 from 67% in 2015. Ready-mix concrete and other sales (including asphalt) have risen to 26% from 19%. Aggregate sales have stayed at around 14%. If the world is making too much cement then LafargeHolcim is switching to concrete and balancing out its supply chain. Naturally, this was backed up in one of its investor presentations showing a more even split in the world building materials market between cement, concrete and aggregates. This fits with Jenisch’s background as the former head of Sika. That company manufactures a wide range of specialty chemicals for the construction and automotive industries.

That shift in focus could also be seen at the inaugural Global Cement and Concrete Association (GCCA) event in late November 2018 where concrete was very much the centre of attention from a sustainability angle. The main companies involved with the GCCA are vertically integrated ones and, by switching its product balance, LafargeHolcim seems to be moving in the same direction. In a sense this is a continuation of the synergy-seeking that was promised when Lafarge and Holcim merged in 2015.

Graph 2: Forecast cement demand growth in LafargeHolcim markets. Source: LafargeHolcim investor presentation 2018. 

Graph 2: Forecast cement demand growth in LafargeHolcim markets. Source: LafargeHolcim investor presentation 2018.

The other interesting question for LafargeHolcim is where next for growth? The graphic above shows a number of promising areas, including India and east Sub-Saharan Africa. Also, note the slowdown forecast for China. That renewed faith in India is timely this week given the expectation by the Indian Cement Manufacturers Association that cement demand growth in the country will rise by at least 10% in the current financial year to March 2019. If the momentum holds up after a strong first half then it will mark the fastest increase for the region since the market slowed down in 2011. LafargeHolcim doesn’t appear to be on course to grow significantly in India anytime soon but it has major ‘skin in the game’ in a promising market.

Another indication of the vibrancy of the Indian market also came this week from the Cement Sustainability Initiative (CSI) with the results of a status review from its low carbon technology roadmap (LCTR). The results were fairly good for such a large industry, with falling CO2 emissions intensity, growing co-processing rates and a decreasing clinker factor. This report carried a sad note given that the work that the CSI does will be taken over by the GCCA in January 2019. However, if this is the last we’re going to hear from the CSI, then they’ve left on a high note.

Lastly, leafing through old financial reports may not be everybody’s idea of a good time but it does let one see how LafargeHolcim’s product mix has changed. It also gives one time to catch up with old faces. Like Bruno Lafont and Eric Olsen. Once again those two former executives popped up in the latest twist of the on going Lafarge Syria legal case as a group of Yazidi women have applied to become ‘civil parties’ in the case. Whether the war crimes inflicted upon the Yazidis can be pinned on Lafarge Syria remains to be seen. Yet, for all of the LafargeHolcim’s business reorganisation, its predecessor’s conduct in Syria continues to make headlines. However much progress the company makes in turning around its fortunes, if it can be, this will continue to overshadow everything. Once a line is drawn under the affair then LafargeHolcim can move on properly.


Brazil: Walter Dissinger has resigned from Votorantim Cimentos. He will be succeeded as chief executive officer (CEO) by Marcelo Castelli on 1 February 2019. Dissinger will assist the succession in early 2019.

Dissinger has led the company for over five years. He has left to seek new ‘challenges.’ Votorantim said that the years during which the company was led by Dissinger were marked by client-focused management, innovation and a digital transformation. Among other projects, Dissinger played a role in the creation of the first loyalty platform within the construction materials industry, Juntos Somos Mais.

Castelli is an executive with a career of over 31 years. In 1997 he started working at VCP (Votorantim Celulose e Papel). Since then, he has held several executive positions and coordinated the merger of Aracruz and VCP, which created Fibria. At the company, Castelli was the executive officer of different areas, such as Forestry, Paper, Strategy, Supply, and since July 2011 he has been the company’s CEO.


Belgium/France: LafargeHolcim has appointed François Petry as the chief executive officer (CEO) of LafargeHolcim France and Head of France - Belgium. He succeeds Bénédicte de Bonnechose, who has decided to leave the group.

Petry has been the managing director of Aggregate Industries, a subsidiary of LafargeHolcim in the UK, since 2015. Prior to this he was the CEO of LafargeHolcim Romania since 2014 and the general manager for Aggregates in Holcim France since 2008. Before that, he held senior positions across the infrastructure, construction and waste industries in France.

He holds degree in Engineering from the École Nationale Superieure D’Arts et Metiers, ParisTech, as well as an executive MBA from the École des Hautes Etudes Commerciales de Paris.


India: The Cement Manufacturers Association (CMA) has elected Mahendra Singhi, the chief executive officer (CEO) of Dalmia Cement (Bharat), as its new president. He succeeds Shailendra Chouksey, according to the Press Trust of India. Singhi was previously the president of the Rajasthan Manufacturers Association. He also ran Shree Cement before leading Dalmia Bharat group.


US: The Portland Cement Association (PCA) has elected Tom Beck, president of Continental Cement Company, as the chairman of the PCA board of directors in 2019. Ron Henley, president of GCC of America, was elected vice chairman at a PCA board meeting in late October 2018. Beck takes over the PCA board chairmanship role from Allen Hamblen, president and chief executive officer (CEO) of CalPortland Company.

A past chairman of the American Concrete Pavement Association, Beck served as Senior Vice President at Continental Cement from 1996 to 2013, and held a variety of positions with Holnam from 1987 to 1996. Prior to joining GCC of America, Henley was President of Boral Construction Materials. He is also a board member of the Denver Scholarship Fund.


Germany: Gerold Keune has resigned as the chairman of the management board of KHD. He cited personal reasons. His resignation takes immediate effect. 

He will be succeeded by Yizhen ‘Mario’ Zhu. He will hold the post until the end of December 2019. In addition, Tao Xing has been appointed as an additional member of the management board. Zhu already served on KHD’s Management Board from 2011 to 2017. Xing served as member of KHD’s Supervisory Board in 2015 and as member of the Management Board in 2016.


Australia: Nick Miller plans to start working as the new chief executive officer (CEO) of Adelaide Brighton on 30 January 2019. He succeeds Martin Brydon, who is retiring. Miller was previously announced in the role in October 2018 but his start date was yet to be confirmed.


Philippines: The European Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines (ECCP) has elected Nabil Francis as its new president. Francis is currently the head of Republic Cement and has been in post since mid-2017. He has worked for a variety of cement producers since 1998 including Ciments Calcia in Europe, Italcementi in Sri Lanka, India and Bulgaria, and HeidelbergCement in Morocco. The ECCP is a bilateral foreign chamber that promotes European interests in the Philippines and vice versa.


Zambia: China’s Sinoma International has signed a US$480m deal to build a 5000t/day clinker production line for Central African Cement. Sinoma will supply a cement plant with a 7.5MW waste heat recovery unit, two 25MW captive thermal power plants and cement mills with a capacity of 2Mt/yr. The project is a joint venture between Sinoma and ZCCM-Investment Holding, an investment company owned by the Zambian government. Sinoma will own a 51% stake in the project.


Paraguay: The Paraguayan Chamber of Construction says that there is a shortage of cement. The builder’s forum has attributed this to a downturn in the economy following the institution of the new government in the summer of 2018, according to the Hoy newspaper.


India: Ambuja Cement has introduced a comprehensive Group Personal Accident Insurance (GPA) policy for truck drivers. The new policy has a policy cover of around US$7m. It is set to benefit nearly 12,000 drivers, who are third-party employees, in case of accidental death or permanent disability. The subsidiary of Switzerland’s LafargeHolcim says it is the first cement company in the local sector to start such as a plan.

“Road safety has been a big challenge as we have little control beyond our plants’ premises. Introduction of Group Personal Accident Insurance policy for the truck drivers – who operate for round-the-clock dispatches – is yet another step by Ambuja Cement to exhibit how much we value them and their work,” said Ajay Kapur, the managing director and chief executive officer (CEO) of Ambuja Cement.


UK: QPA Northern Ireland (QPANI) will change its name to MPA Northern Ireland (MPANI) in 2019. QPANI is the trade association for the mineral products sector in Northern Ireland with 87 members employing just over 5000 people. It has been an affiliate of the Mineral Products Association (MPA) since 2009.

“Our move from QPANI to MPANI was endorsed by our members as they believe the time is right to take this important step. The reference to minerals in our new title recognises the fact that our membership base is wide and varied across our Industry in Northern Ireland representing the extraction and processing of hard rock, sand, salt, lime and chalk into products that support and sustain our quality of life,” said Gordon Best, director of QPANI. He added that the association had
an ‘excellent’ working relationship with the MPA, other MPA regions in the UK and with the Irish Mining and Quarries Society (IMQS) in the Republic of Ireland.


Canada: Lehigh Hanson Materials has signed a deal with SaskPower to give it exclusive rights to fly ash from the coal-fired Shand Power Station near Estevan in Saskatchewan. This expands on an existing 10-year agreement signed in 2012 to market Boundary Dam Power Station fly ash. An estimated 0.22Mt/yr of fly ash will be sold from the Boundary Dam and Shand Power stations.


US: Lehigh Cement has applied to the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection to expand the quarry at its Nazareth cement plant. It wants to increase its mining area by a third to 112 hectares from 84 hectares according to the Express-Times newspaper. A public consultation period on the application will run until late December 2018.


India: Oman’s Raysut Cement plans to invest around US$700m in India by 2022. Joey Ghose, the chief executive officer (CEO) of the company, said that about US$200m has been set aside to buy majority stakes in two local producers in early 2019, according to the Hindu newspaper. Raysut Cement wants to increase its total cement production capacity to 20Mt/yr. The investment will be funded by internal revenue and loans.

The cement producer is holding talks with companies in Chhattisgarh and the coastal region of Gujarat respectively. Each company has a production capacity of around 1.2Mt/yr. Raysut Cement also intends to invest up to US$500m in these companies following their acquisition by 2022, bringing their capacity up to 5Mt/yr.

Outside of India, Raysut Cement also says it is interested in buying a 70% stake in Kenya’s ARM Cement for US$100m. It is also in discussions to acquire buy cement producers in Uganda and Djibouti. It currently has projects in development in Somaliland and Somalia. The company also holds a majority stake in Pioneer Cement Industries Georgia.


Saudi Arabia/Yemen: Southern Province Cement has signed a deal to sell 20,000t of cement to Yemen. The deal will last for three months. It started in early December 2018 with the export of a 7000t consignment. It follows a similar agreement that Tabuk Cement agreed in late November 2018 to export products to Yemen.


Spain: Jesús Ortiz, the president of Oficemen the Spanish cement association, forecasts that exports of cement will drop by 20% year-on-year in 2019. He has blamed the situation on high electricity prices, according to the El Economista newspaper. He predicts that the local industry will have a capacity utilisation rate of 53% in 2019. He added that residential house construction was growing, but that the share of non-residential building had fallen.


Paraguay: A fault in a storage silo has spilled around 250t of cement at Industria Nacional del Cemento’s (INC) plant. The silo was reportedly closed for maintenance at the time, according to the ABC – Paraguay newspaper. The material is unrecoverable and its value was around US$0.1m. The mistake follows similar spills at other silos at the state-owned plant. Other maintenance issues have also been reported at the site.


UK: Finland’s Metso has acquired Kiln Flame Systems (KFS), a UK-based combustion solutions and technology provide, to extend its pyro-processing portfolio and capabilities. KFS specialises in rotary kiln and calcining processes, combustion optimisation and burner technologies with patented designs. It provides solutions to a wide range of industries including minerals processing. KFS has 14 employees based in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire. KFS will become part of Metso's Minerals Services business area, which offers a comprehensive line of pyro processing equipment.

"Joining forces with Metso gives us the opportunity to offer our technology to a wider customer base. KFS has worked hard to establish our position and reputation as a market leader in custom-designed combustion solutions, and we are delighted to build our future and continue serving existing and new customers with Metso," said Cliff Rennie, director and chief executive officer (CEO) of KFS.

KFS was founded in 1999. It uses computational fluid dynamics (CFD) for burner design and system analysis supported by physical modelling.


Oman: Raysut Cement Company has ordered a waste heat recovery unit from China’s Sinoma. No cost for the deal or an expected timescale has been disclosed. The company says it is the first of its kind in the country. Once completed it is expected to reduce the company’s power costs at its plant by up to 30%.


Qatar: Qatar National Cement Company has started producing white cement after it obtained the necessary licenses for the product. It will be sold in 50kg bags and in bulk.


France/Syria: A group of Yazidi women have applied to become ‘civil parties’ in a criminal case brought in France against Lafarge and several of its executives for complicity in crimes against humanity and financing a terrorist organisation. The women survived rape and slavery at the hands of the Islamic State (IS) group in Iraq and Syria, according to the Agence France Presse. Lafarge allegedly made multi-million dollar payments to IS in order to continue operations at one of its cement plants in northern Syria in 2013. Lawyers on behalf of the Yazidi said that the case would allow the women, "to have their voices heard in a court of law."

Lafarge Syria is suspected of paying nearly Euro13m to IS and other militant groups to keep the Jalabiya plant running. Payments by the cement company were considered a ‘tax’ in exchange for which militants allowed free movement of the company's staff and goods inside the warzone, according to investigators.


Philippines: Holcim Philippines plans to invest nearly US$300m towards increasing its production capacity by 30% to 13Mt/yr by 2020. It will upgrade its plants at Bulacan and Misamis Oriental with the installation of new kilns, mills and waste heat recovery systems. The upgrades are intended to support the country’s economic development and strong construction sector.

“Our capacity expansion ensures that we can provide a steady supply of quality building materials to support the government’s infrastructure program and the resulting construction activity from the economy’s sustained rise,” said John Stull, Holcim Philippines president and chief executive officer (CEO).

The projects are part of a series of capacity and productivity investments that Holcim Philippines started in 2012 with the rehabilitation of its grinding plant in Mabini, Batangas. This was followed by debottlenecking of plants in 2015 and expansion projects in La Union and Davao that are set to be completed in 2019.


Kazakhstan: The Rudny cement plant plans to start production in early December 2018. Arkhimed Mukhambetov, governor of the Kostanay region, attended the launch ceremony of the unit, according to the Trend News Agency. It has reportedly had a total investment of US$100, double the previous amount published in local media. The 0.5Mt/yr plant has been postponed several times since 2010 due to a lack of finance. The company’s director, Artem Maklasov, said that a consignment of up to 0.3Mt of cement from the plant will be sold to Ufa in Russia. Subsequently, cement from the plant will be sold in Kostanay region and in southern Russia.


Russia: Eurocement is upgrading its Kavkazcement plant in a Euro13m project until May 2019. Production will continue throughout out the work. The plant is preparing to increase cement production in 2019 by refurbishing kilns that were not used in 2018. The clinker cooler and a static grid will be installed in January 2019. From February to May 2019 work on the plant’s raw material lines and cement mills will be conducted. In addition selected buildings at the site will be replaced.


India: Shree Cement plans to invest around US$140m towards building two grinding plants at Jharkhand and Odisha respectively. Both units will be supported by the company’s integrated plant at Chhattisgarh, according to the Press Trust of India. Each grinding plant will have a production capacity of around 2Mt/yr but this will vary depending on the type of cement produced.

The cement producer also started a new plant in Karnataka in late November 2018. It expects the site to take three years to ramp up production.


India: A report by the Cement Sustainability Initiative (CSI) shows that the local cement sector is on track to meet its 2030 targets from the low carbon technology roadmap (LCTR). Direct CO2 emission intensity fell by 5% in 2017 in the Indian cement sector compared to the 2010 baseline. CO2 emission intensity, including onsite or captive power plant (CPP) power generation, was reduced by 6.8% compared to the 2010 baseline. The alternative fuels thermal substitution rate (TSR) increased by 5 times from 2010 to 2017. The sector consumed more than 1.2Mt of alternative fuels in 2017.

“Sustainability is a journey, not a destination. In our globalised and interconnected world, no one can solve alone the challenges ahead of us and the only opportunity to succeed is through collaborative partnerships, where the common interests of all are considered as more important than the sum of individual interests. This is exactly the spirit that has animated the CSI’s low carbon journey since 1999. This flagship project - with its members - has developed, implemented and shared collective solutions for measuring, reporting and improving its greenhouse gas reduction performance, year after year,” said Philippe Fonta, managing director CSI.

The CSI and the International Energy Agency (IEA) worked with nine local CSI member companies - ACC, Ambuja Cements, CRH, Dalmia Cement (Bharat), HeidelbergCement, Orient Cement, Shree Cement, UltraTech and Votorantim Cimentos - to carry out the status review on the sector’s performance trends, continuous implementation measures and notable achievements based on the milestones set in the 2013 LCTR. The Status Review Report was developed in consultation with Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), with support from International Finance Corporation (IFC) and the Cement Manufacturers Association (CMA).

The findings of the report show that the direct CO2 emission intensity was reduced by 32kgCO2/t cement to 588kgCO2/t cement in 2017 mainly due to an increased use of alternative fuel and blended cement production, coupled with a reduction in clinker replacement factor. However, the study also shows that significant efforts will be needed to meet the 2050 objectives of 40% reduction. The CO2 emission intensity (including onsite or CPP power generation) has reduced by 49kgCO2/t cement to 670kgCO2/t cement in 2017 compared to the baseline year. The report has highlighted the adoption of waste heat recovery (WHR) systems by local cement plants.

The alternative fuels TSR increased to 3% in 2017 from 0.6% in 2010. More than 60 cement plants in India have reported continual usage of alternative fuels, with 24% of the total alternative fuels consumed as biomass. The share of blended cements used in the total quantity of cement manufactured increased to 73% in 2017 from 68% in 2010, largely due to the market’s growing acceptance of blended cement, emerging awareness of sustainability concepts, the availability of fly ash from thermal power plants and the use of advanced technology. The production of Pozzolana Portland Cement grew to 65% in 2017 from 61% in 2010. The share of Portland Slag Cement in cement production remained flat, at less than 10%, over the same period. The clinker factor reduced to 0.71 in 2017 from 0.74 in 2010.

In August 2018 the Global Cement and Concrete Association (GCCA) said it was taking over the work previously done by the CSI from 1 January 2019.


US: Mississippi Lime Company plans to ‘significantly’ increase enhanced hydrated lime capacities at its Weirton, West Virginia and Verona, Kentucky plants. It also manufactures hydrated lime products from its Ste Genevieve, Missouri, Vicksburg, Mississippi and Chester, South Carolina operations. The company produces high calcium quicklime, hydrated lime and calcium carbonate.


India: The Cement Manufacturers Association has forecast growth above 10% in the 2019 financial year to the end of March 2019. It is expecting growth to be supported by the government's increased spending on large-scale infrastructure projects and growing residential housing, according to the Press Trust of India. It follows growth of around 13% year-on-year in the first half of the year. If growth stays at above 10% in 2019 it will be the fastest increase since the industry slowed down in 2011. The association is also attempting to lobby the government to lower the 28% tax rate applicable under the General Service Tax.


India: Two employees have died from a fall at the Birla Corporation’s cement plant at Maihar in Madhya Pradesh. The workers reportedly fell from an overhead platform, according to the Press Trust of India. Materials stacked on the platform also fell, burying the workers and other labourers. Piyush Tiwari, a mechanical engineer aged 35 years, and Prabhu Dayal Patel, a labourer aged 40 years, both died at the scene. The other labourers were unhurt. Local residents protested at the site following the accident setting fire to administrative buildings and two vehicles. Police are investigating the fatalities.


Pakistan: GE says it has delivered a turnkey power grid to DG Khan Cement’s Hub plant in Baluchistan. The grid includes a 132/6.3kV gas-insulated switchgear (GIS), 40MVA power transformers and other related auxiliary equipment. The power solution also includes an extension at K-Electric’s Hub Chowki grid station with a 132kV AIS bay connecting it to the DG Khan Cement grid station. GE also supplied engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) of the 132/6.3kV grid station.

“As one of the largest cement producers in Pakistan, our aim is to create a facility for the future, not only to meet local demand but also to serve the international market. To support these efforts, we needed a field-proven stable and reliable grid solution and therefore after thorough evaluation we selected GE’s solutions. Given GE’s experience spanning across a wide range of industries and applications, we are pleased to work with the team on this critical project,” said Arif Bashir, Director (Tech & Ops) at DG Khan Cement.

DG Khan Cement officially opened the Hub plant in July 2018. The unit has a cement production capacity of 2.8Mt/yr.


US: LafargeHolcim has received American Petroleum Institute (API) certification to produce oil well cement at its Holcim Theodore plant in Alabama plant. It says it is one of only four cement plants in the country with an API 10A Monogram and Q1 Quality Management System. Production of Class A oil well cement will start immediately at the site and the company plans to add Class H production in the future.

In order to earn the certification, LafargeHolcim spent more than a year in a process of investing in additional testing equipment, developing a quality management system, conducting internal audits and passing an audit by the API. Oil well cement is designed to meet demanding requirements. It is continuously tested for chemistry, thickening time, fluid loss, free fluid, rheology and compressive strength.

Production at the company’s Theodore plant will complement LafargeHolcim’s ability to maintain a consistent supply of oil well cement to customers in the Gulf region and beyond. The company also produces API A and H well cements at its Joppa cement plant in Illinois.


Russia: Eurocement has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Dry Building Mixes Manufacturers Union about using white cement. The deal was signed by Jaroslav Stoupa, the president of production and technical development at Eurocement, and Roman Borisov, the head of the Dry Building Mixes Manufacturers Union, at a trade conference in Moscow. The agreement connects the producers and users of white cement and it allows for the technical exchange of data about the product’s market requirements. It follows Eurocement’s plans to develop a white cement production line at its Zhigulovskiye Stroymaterialy plant in Samara in mid-2019.


Denmark: Dankalk is upgrading the lime hydrator at its Aggersund plant. A new KLV 02/630-4.0 type lime hydrator is being supplied by Germany’s Gebr. Pfeiffer. It is being replaced from a previous Gebr. Pfeiffer model installed in the 1980s due to tighter emission limits. Commissioning of the new lime hydrator is scheduled for mid-2019.


Oman: Four French investors and technology suppliers, including Fives and Suez, have created a syndicate to develop business opportunities in the Special Economic Zone Authority of Duqm. The other partners are CMA CGM and EDF Renewables. The companies intend to assess various investment options in the area and develop them. In particular, the syndicate has an interest in a ‘global approach to cement factory ecosystems’ and related facilities including transport facilities, a solar power generation plant and the production of alternative fuels.


Saudi Arabia: Southern Cement’s sales revenue and profits have fallen so far in 2018 due to falling sales volumes and prices. Its revenue fell by 15% year-on-year to US$172m in the first nine months of 2018 from US$203m in the same period in 2017. Its net profit after Zakat and taxes decreased by 44% to US$38m from US$68.5m.


Iran: Cement exports rose by 7% year-on-year to 3.8Mt in the first seven months of the current local calendar year , which started on 21 March 2018. Abdul Reza Sheikhan, the secretary of the Cement Industry Association, added that clinker exports grew by 13.6% to 3.8Mt, according to ISNA. However international sanctions and increasing shipping costs have reduced exports in the most recent reporting month. Overall, clinker production by the local industry grew by 2.4% to 37.3Mt.


Niger: Nouvelle Cimenterie de Niger (NCN) is preparing to open a new plant at Malbaza in December 2018. Company officials told Prime Minister Brigi Rafini that construction the unit had been completed and that it was preparing to start production, according to Niamey et les 2 jours and the l’Agence Ecofin. The plant has a production capacity of 2000t/day and it is estimated that it will provide 80% of the country’s demand for cement. The unit has 347 employees. The project was originally started in mid-2011 but was construction halted.


French Guiana: Cementos Argos is supplying around 54,500t of cement for the Ariane 6 launch pad at the European Space Agency’s spaceport at Kourou. The Colombian cement producer is a strategic supplier for the project and it has been supporting Eiffage, the main contractor. The new launch pad is 90% complete and it is expected to be finished in 2019. The first launch is scheduled for 2020.

Cementos Argos is supplying three different types of cement for the project: a road binder, a soil stabiliser and a sulphate-resistant product. These will be used to build the launch platform, including a mobile base with a height of 90m, the assembly building for the rockets and other structural work.


Brazil: Votorantim’s construction materials joint venture has started operation. The scheme, Juntos Somos Mais, is collaboration between Votorantim Cimentos, Tigre Participações and Gerdau Aços Longos. Votorantim holds a 45% share of the scheme. The joint venture will expand Votorantim’s Juntos Somos + scheme, which has been running since 2014. To date it operates in over 40,000 stores with over 60,000 registered participants.


US: Illinois Cement is preparing to expand the limestone quarry at its La Salle plant. The company has submitted plans to the local government to build a new quarry to the west and northwest of its existing mine, according to the News tribune newspaper. It also wants to move a road to support the changes. The existing quarry will be closed. The cement producer has held public consultations on the project and the local authorities are considering the plan.


Germany: Aumund is promoting its chain products for use in conveyors. The conveyor engineering company is emphasising its 40-year experience in designing chains for applications in heavy production industries across over 18,000 references in more than 140 countries. It says it has more ‘heavy duty, highly rated’ chains in operation than any other supplier. It adds that its chains can handle the differing requirements between a large ball mill circuit bucket elevator or a high capacity steep pan conveyor.


US: Munson Machinery has released a new model, RDC-2424-MS, of its De-Clumper Rotary Lump Breaker. The product is recommended for breaking lumps in product flows of bulk materials such as cement powders, sodium or calcium carbonates, fertilisers and bulk chemicals of all types.

The manufacturer says that the compact, low profile design allows inline placement in restricted spaces between upstream and downstream processing, packaging or bulk storage equipment. With an optional feed hopper and support structure, it can also operate as a stand-alone unit. It is built with maintenance in mind. For example, bearings can be lubricated through external fittings and are isolated from the product processing area with air purged shaft seals. Suitable for industrial and chemical applications, it is also offered in 304/316 stainless steel and finished to sanitary standards for food, dairy, pharmaceutical or industrial applications.